Indonesia’s Lion Air is moving closer to completing the first phase of its new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Batam, which will help it handle the massive number of aircraft deliveries the carrier has scheduled and make it a player in the third-party MRO market.

Airbus A380 operators are facing mandatory checks for fatigue cracking in a specific belly area after scheduled maintenance checks uncovered damage. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a proposed airworthiness directive (PAD 13-173) that, if adopted, would require “detailed inspections” along the belly frame leading edge profile at fuselage frames 35-37. 

Boeing engineers repairing the Ethiopian Airlines 787-8 stranded at London Heathrow Airport for five months since it was badly damaged by an emergency beacon fire have replaced a large section of the upper fuselage structure and refitted the tail unit as part of efforts to return the aircraft to service early next year.

Maintenance has not really been a priority for alliances

AAR’s Lake Charles, La. facility, which opened in September by using a short-term approval through its Miami facility’s operating certificate, received its own in mid-November. This certification means AAR is now up to 14 FAA-certified repair stations. The facility also just completed its first heavy check--on an Airbus A330. (AAR didn’t disclose the owner or operator.)

One big trend in recent aftermarket activity has been the increasing importance of OEM support, especially in engine work. For the biggest MRO deals, manufacturers often seem to compete mostly with shops that are part of a global airline, like Lufthansa or Air France.

A scan of recent supply chain- and logistics-related product announcements underscores that aviation is placing a premium on keeping real-time tabs on high-value goods. On the production line, manufacturers are marking parts with tags designed to help everyone from line mechanics to vendors. In the aftermarket, using sophisticated sensors to monitor parts and key shipments—from components sent to bail out a grounded aircraft to the tooling needed to do the job—is becoming bigger business.

Additive manufacturing has captured industry’s imagination, but even as the first parts appear inside jet engines, the technology’s possibilities are only just being realized. As researchers experiment with new materials and optimized designs made possible by 3-D printing, the potential scale of the revolution in manufacturing is becoming clearer.